Christina Nielsen has been tapped by Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to be its new curator of the collection and director of program planning. Coming to the museum from the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was assistant curator of late antique and Byzantine art, she will start in April.

“Christina’s passionate scholarly mind will bring the rich collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum alive to the public through exhibitions, talks and surprising encounters, “ the Gardner’s director, Anne Hawley, said in a statement released to press.

Dr. Nielsen had been with the Art Institute in various capacities since 2003. She has also held positions at Los Angeles’ J. Paul Getty Museum, the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art, London’s British Museum and New York’s very own Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“I am thrilled by this opportunity to explore the museum’s incomparable historic collection and its unique setting,” Dr. Nielsen said in a statement. “I look forward to developing programming that is true to the bold and creative vision of Isabella Stewart Gardner and that will continue to captivate and inspire current and future museum audiences.”